


Being Strong

by River_of_Dawn



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Archangel Gabriel (Supernatural), Brotherly Love, Castiel and Gabriel (Supernatural) are Siblings, Fake Character Death, Gabriel (Supernatural) In Hiding, Gabriel (Supernatural) is Bad at Feelings, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Naive Castiel (Supernatural), Season/Series 05 Spoilers, Spoilers for Episode: s05e19 Hammer of the Gods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 09:09:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18870136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/River_of_Dawn/pseuds/River_of_Dawn
Summary: Castiel has always been Gabriel's favorite sibling.Therefore it had hurt when Gabriel had to leave him behind, when he went into his own "witness protection program".But maybe it's time for him to stand up and take a stance. To finally protect his brother like he was meant to.





	Being Strong

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is my first Supernatural fanfiction and I learned English as a second language, so feel free to give tips and feedback to help me improve my writing.
> 
> I mainly wrote this because there aren't enough stories focusing on Gabriel's and Castiel's brotherly relationship out there.
> 
> This work uses the gender-neutral neopronoun "ne/nem/nir" for angels without a vessel and their vessel's pronouns if they have one. If you don't like this, then you shouldn't read this story.
> 
> There are no trigger warnings.
> 
> This is a fictional work. Sadly, Supernatural doesn't belong to me, nor do I earn money with this.

Castiel had always been Gabriel‘s favorite sibling. Well, there was Lucifer in the beginning, who taught nem, helped nem, basically raised nem until ne became cold and distant. And at that point Lucifer acting weird had been the least of Gabriel‘s worries.

Because Gabriel had nir own fledglings to train and teach, to raise.

And among all of them, Castiel stood out the most.

Not even because ne was the best fighter or because of nir grace or anything, but because of how ne acted. Ne was different from the other fledglings, more curious, trying to get to know the newly formed world. And ne was among the few who weren‘t scared of Gabriel just because ne was an archangel.

In fact, Castiel had been one of the few fledglings ne would willingly call a sibling, and who, in return, would call Gabriel nir older sibling.

They would visit the newly formed earth together, exploring it, getting to know what would soon house their Parent‘s newest creations.

All in all, it was a perfect existence for them both. Gabriel had a younger sibling to tease, teach and help and in return Castiel had an older sibling to admire and learn from. And whilst Castiel was always a bit different from the other angels, Gabriel loved nem even more for it. Nir naivety was just part of Castiel‘s charm.

But then their Parent created humanity and with them came conflict.

Lucifer refused to bow to humankind and Micheal would not accept nir decision. And so the first War started.

In the beginning, Gabriel would openly announce nir neutrality, because ne loved both of nir siblings and refused to choose between them. Ne would try to protect the angels under nir command, tried to keep them out of the fighting, but to no avail. After some time Micheal came and ne would force the fledglings to choose, ignoring the fact, that they were too young to fight.

And so, whilst some of Gabriel’s garrisons would join Micheal, some would join Lucifer, destroying the unity of the angels under Gabriel’s command in a shower of dying grace.

But what made Gabriel choose to leave was, when some sunrises after the fighting had started, Castiel met nem in the heaven of a human, looking at the plants growing there. It was a beautiful place to be, but Gabriel couldn’t care less about the heaven. What ne cared about was Castiel sitting underneath a tree, watching some birds fly. Ne looked solemn.

“Why are we fighting, Gabriel?” Castiel had asked nem in nir usual obliviousness.

“I don’t know, Castiel.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I only know that afterwards nothing will remain the same.”

“Then why don’t you stop the fighting? You’re strong.”

“I wish I were, Castiel, I wish I were.”

Castiel‘s warm grace brushed against nir own.

“You are strong, Gabriel. I know that. You’re stronger then Anael or Balthazar or Uriel or myself. You’re strong.”

Something warm flared up in Gabriel as ne listened to the younger angel. Nir blind faith in nem was overwhelming.

“Thank you, sibling.”

“Why would you thank me? I only told the truth.”

Gabriel could sense Castiel’s confusion. It was endearing how oblivious and naive his younger sibling was. But at the same time it hit nem, that Castiel would loose nir innocence once ne was drafted to fight on whichever side nir garrison leader would choose to fight for. The thought made nem want to pull nir grace inside of nem and bury it to hide nir pain. To get rid of that painful thought.

“Promise me to stay true to yourself, Castiel. Don’t ever change, alright?”

“Why?”

“Because you are perfect the way you are. You’re going to do great things one day, little sibling.”

“Thank you, big sibling, but why are you telling me this?”

“Because I’m proud of you. Of who you are. Because...” ...I’m going to go… “...because you deserve to know that, Castiel.”

“Oh, alright.”

Gabriel hesitated. This was nir last chance to speak with nir little sibling, probably forever. Ne didn’t want to leave just yet.

“I have to go. My commander wants to see me. I will see you afterwards, Gabriel.”

“Yes, I will see you later, Castiel.”

The lie hurt, but Gabriel told nemself that this was nir only option so ne wouldn’t have to fight alongside nir siblings, so ne wouldn’t be forced to kill them.

After Castiel’s grace had left the heaven behind, Gabriel continued to stay there for a few moments, before leaving as well. For the last time.

As ne made nir way towards the battlefield ne couldn’t help but feel regretful for leaving nir siblings behind. For leaving Castiel behind. For leaving _Shield of God_ behind, nir favorite sibling.

On the battlefield ne could see graces flaring up as angels died, killed by their siblings. The sight was so wrong it just cemented Gabriel’s decision. Maybe nir death was needed for nir older siblings to realize that this was wrong.

Ne could only hope so.

With one last glance around, recognizing Castiel’s grace joining the field on the left, ne flared nir grace as if ne was dying, before letting it collapse inside of itself in the exact moment ne went to earth to look for a vessel to hide in for the next few millennia.

Gabriel could feel Castiel’s pain as if it was nir own when the young angel, technically still a fledgling, was the first to notice nir death. It was agonizing and left nem in doubt for a moment as for whether this had really been the right decision to make.

But then ne noticed a fitting vessel, as if nir father had wanted this to happen, for normally it wasn’t as easy to find a vessel fit to contain an archangel.

Shutting nemself off from nir siblings pain, Castiel’s anguish, ne approached nir potential vessel to get consent, Castiel’s words still seemingly echoing inside of nem. _”You’re strong, Gabriel,”_ nir voice repeated.

But the only thing Gabriel could think of was how Castiel had been wrong. Ne wasn’t strong. Ne was a coward, taking the coward’s way out.

Pulling nir grace tight inside of nir vessel so nobody would be able to see that nem was an angel, Gabriel opened his new eyes.

It was time to formulate a plan on how to spend the next few millennia.

When he ran across a Norse god a few days later Gabriel couldn’t believe his luck. This was perfect, since as a pagan, he would be able to live forever and use powers while probably even having devotees.

And so he cut the inside of his hand a few months later, shaking it with another bloody hand.

Gabriel was now the blood-brother of Odin, the Traveler.

No, Loki, the Trickster, was now the blood-brother of Odin, the Traveler.

And whilst he would miss his old life, his old family sometimes, he now had a new family as Loki. New friends as well. A potential lover. A new reputation as The Trickster.

Yes, he had fun living his new life. Whilst it was a crass difference to his life before it was a good kind of different. And, oh boy, the sweets humankind had invented over the years… That alone made his new life worthwhile. Also, he got to fuck around with hunters and bad guys, dishing out some Just Desserts, which wasn’t all that bad either.

Until he met the Winchester boys.

Really, from that moment on ward it all went crashing down around him so fast he barely noticed what was happening. One moment he was dishing out some Just Desserts – and really, the dancing aliens were a masterpiece of work – and the next he was reenacting Groundhog Day, and next Lucifer was walking the earth again.

And when he saw Castiel again, he couldn’t help but be proud of the kid.

Well, maybe a little too proud, because his grace flared up a bit at the sight of his younger brother standing side by side with the Winchesters, which Castiel noticed.

...Yeah, he was proud of Castiel. And maybe it was time to step up and finally be his older brother again. To help him.

In the end it wasn’t that difficult to be as strong as Castiel had believed him to be. To stand up to Lucifer, to give the Winchesters and his little brother an out. To do, what he should have done all that time ago when it first started.

And when Lucifer stabbed the illusion Gabriel had created, when he blacked out from using too much power to keep the illusion up well enough to fool his older brother who had taught him the trick in the first place, Gabriel couldn’t help but feel as if he’d made the right decision.

As if he’d been strong.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!
> 
> If so, feel free to leave kudos, comments and/or bookmarks to let me know :)
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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